Many years ago, my friends Lucy Ruggles and Jil Windsor and I had a women’s group called the Aphrodite Circle and we were discussing how each of us might relflect the essence of a certain flower. Lucy and Jil said they were most drawn to the Passion flower as my particular essence. The next day I was walking over a nearby river bridge and there was a mass of passion flower vines near the pathway. I brought one to my studio and later that afternoon I painted this picture to the strains of Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved”. I had recently seen the movie and was profoundly impacted by this man’s commitment to his art and the great lengths he went to to put his inspiration into form, against all odds.
Because of the power of the music, as well as the background theme of his love affair that fueled his passions, I felt a synergy of the erotic, the lovely and the cosmic. Combining these three forces is the basis of grace. I felt like a midwife to this painting which came to represent a sense of awe and appreciation for this magical energy which can visit us under the best and most unexpected times.
The message: Surrendering to one’s inner passions leads the way to a state of grace: it is the process of putting passion into form that creates powerful and exotic beauty.
